Effective stroke care requires fast action by emergency medical providers. Gundersen Moundview Hospital and Clinics was recently recognized by the Wisconsin Coverdell Stroke Program for achieving the fastest door to CT scan time for the first quarter of 2018, among all 48 Wisconsin champion hospitals participating in the program. Stroke patients arriving in the hospital’s emergency department received a diagnostic CT head scan within a median time of 2.5 minutes.

This is not the first time Gundersen Moundview has received this honor. In 2017 the hospital was recognized by Coverdell for its effective stroke care and was featured as a success story on the Wisconsin Department of Health Services website.

“The Wisconsin Coverdell Stroke Program assists hospitals in their mission to provide high-quality stroke care by providing data and resources that support our quality improvement and continuing education efforts,” said Lisa Massen, Emergency Department Manager at Gundersen Moundview. “Our hospital has made significant improvements in stroke care since joining the Coverdell Program in 2015.”

Over the past three years, Gundersen Moundview has collected and evaluated data on a number of stroke measures, established quality improvement goals, increased employee stroke education and provided a number of community outreach initiatives. Further enhancements were made in 2017 when stroke telemedicine was implemented through Gundersen Health System.

“When a stroke patient comes into our emergency department, the on-staff physician is able to use telemedicine to consult with a neurologist at Gundersen Health System,” said Gert Hasselhof, MD, Emergency Department Medical Director at Gundersen Moundview. “The off-site neurologist remotely examines the patient using the telemedicine’s high resolution camera, computer and medical equipment. Then the two physicians jointly make a diagnosis and recommend treatment, which optimizes stroke care for our patients.”

“When a stroke occurs, there is only a small window of time to prevent severe disability or, in some cases, death,” said Diana Broniec, Director of Nursing at Gundersen Moundview. “Our goal is to provide patients with the highest standard of stroke care.”

To learn if you are at risk for a stroke, schedule a checkup with your health care provider or call Moundview's Family Clinic in Friendship (608) 339-6350 or Westfield (608) 296-6350.